


Matters of the Heart

by simply_average



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Budding Romance, M/M, Post Winter Cup, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-11
Updated: 2015-11-11
Packaged: 2018-05-01 03:34:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5190623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simply_average/pseuds/simply_average
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Akashi Seijuurou was having the worst day of his life.</p><p>After all, it was the day he had lost for the first time ever, in his entire life. But Kuroko Tetsuya always had a way of surpassing his expectations, so turning his worst day into a somewhat better one (if not the best) was not quite outside his capacity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Matters of the Heart

**Author's Note:**

> for anon on tumblr - I liked it a lot so i posted it here
> 
> so sorry for any errors, i couldnt read this thru

Akashi Seijuurou was having the worst day of his life.

After all, it was the day he had  _lost_ for the first time ever, in his  _entire_ life.

Losing was an experience he had been curious about, but he hadn’t been prepared for the sheer humiliation that had struck him when the buzzer rang.

It had taken the entirety of his willpower to smile at Kuroko, and pretend as if it didn’t  _hurt,_ being the  _first_ captain Rakuzan ever had to  _lose,_ to  _fail_ to bring the Winter Cup home, and that too to a team that hadn’t even cleared the initial rounds of the Inter-High.

Completely unacceptable.

He had reverted to his old self, that was for sure, but he would have preferred to return to favourable circumstances, not with his life in shambles around him.

It might have seemed like he was being dramatic, but this was his first loss, and failure was unacceptable in the Akashi household.

His punishment could range from anything like his father cutting off his monthly allowance (not an issue, he had an account his father was unaware of) to force him to quit the basketball club.

The latter would unhinge him (even more than he already was, apparently) because basketball was the sole solace in his world, where to fail meant death.

( _Then why am I still alive?)_

Of course, with such a grim mindset, he couldn’t cheer his team up, let alone encourage them to perform their best, so he left.

He had always been a bad Captain, whether it had been at Teiko (where his entire team had resented him for breaking their  _friendship_ ) or at Rakuzan (where the team treated him with cautious respect to a grudging sort of admiration for his skills) so one more thing to add to his list of ‘Terrible things that Akashi Seijuurou has done’ wouldn’t make any huge difference.

He wanted solitude, to reflect over his mistakes during the match, to see if they could have been prevented, to  _punish_ himself in any way possible.

Of course, that had been his second stupid choice of the day, the first having thought he could actually win without his teammates.

He had been foolish to think that he’d be allowed to lick his wounds in private, away from prying eyes, when people like Kise Ryouta existed.

“Akashicchi!!” Kise shouted and he spotted the Generation of Miracles trudging reluctantly behind him, along with a sweaty yet satisfied looking Kuroko, and Akashi immediately felt the slight smile that appeared on his lips die.

Whose bright idea had it been to tag Kuroko along?

It wasn’t like he resented Kuroko for what he had done, instead he should be thanking him for returning him to his senses, (Lord alone knows what would have happened if his younger brother had been given free rein for a little longer) but he was certainly not in the mindset to accept all that right now.

He sighed and turned away, his third mistake, allowing Kise to tackle him into a flying hug, and as he fell crashing down to the floor, he could only think,  _Kise, you idiot._

“Akashi, no!” Midorima shouted and with a surprising amount of speed managed to catch up to Kise to drag him back, but unfortunately, Aomine’s sweater had gotten caught in Midorima’s lucky item of the day, a fancy bracelet.

“Midorima!” Aomine fell, and grabbed the nearest object for support, which turned out to be Murasakibara.

“Mine-chin, let go,” Murasakibara said, as expressionless as ever, even as he toppled over.

Akashi’s eyes widened and he turned around to prevent his head from being injured, and fell straight on top of Kuroko, whom he hadn’t even noticed was there.

“Oof,” he grunted as he fell on top of Kuroko, managing just in time to place his arms on either side of Kuroko, to prevent him from being crushed.

Kuroko’s eyes were very wide, as he stared at the pile of people above Akashi, and Akashi who was enduring their weight (albeit painfully, from the looks of it) and had prevented him from resembling a human pancake.

“Thank you, Akashi-kun,” Kuroko said, his breath wafting over Akashi’s face, and Akashi could only wonder how in the world Kuroko managed to smell so  _damn_ good when he had just finished playing a match.

“Ah,” Akashi averted his eyes from the oddly intrusive (No, he corrected himself, Kuroko’s stare had always been intrusive) stare of his former teammate.

Why weren’t the idiots above him moving?

“Aomine, don’t move, my lucky item will break,” Midorima commanded and Akashi could only sigh. In some ways, he was glad he wasn’t their Captain anymore.

“Midorima you bastard, get it away quickly, or I swear I’ll rip it off. You think I want my face pressed up against you like some goddamn lover?!!” Aomine yelled, and Akashi could only think how only Akashi and Kuroko had been caught up in an embrace that was similar to that of a pair of lovers’.

“Midorimacchi, you’re crushing me!” Kise whined against Akashi’s ear, and moved causing Akashi to press up against Kuroko and -

“Oh,” Kuroko sighed breathily against his ear, and Akashi frowned because the last thing Akashi needed was him becoming hard by brushing against Kuroko fucking Tetsuya (yes, the situation called for the use of profanity) and for the rest of Generation of Miracles to know about it and tease him mercilessly for the rest of his existence.

“Murasakibara, you aren’t being crushed by anyone, so why are you not getting off me?!” Aomine asked the purple haired boy, and Murasakibara replied with a soft hum, as he lifted himself off.

Some of the tension from Akashi’s shoulders eased, and he pulled himself from where he was literally plastered upon Kuroko (and his surprisingly soft skin, no don’t go there) to a more comfortable position, but it was still hard with three huge athletes on top of him.

Kuroko chose that exact moment to cling on Akashi, who lost all strength in his limbs at the touch and collapsed on top of the smaller boy, and the pile of boys sank with their entire weight on to Kuroko.

Kuroko let out a startled gasp as all the air in his lungs rushed out in a single soundless exclamation, and Akashi immediately panicked and pushed the three guys on top of him, Midorima’s stupid lucky bracelet be damned.

“Argh!!” From the sound of Midorima’s indignant shout, it appeared his lucky item indeed had broken, but to Akashi, Aomine and Kise it didn’t matter.

“Kuroko/cchi!!” they shouted simultaneously, as they rushed to Kuroko’s aid, but Kuroko was already sitting up and coughing hard.

“Kuro-chin, you okay?” Murasakibara asked even as he snacked on a bag of chips.

“Murasakibara-kun, I’m fine, but can you please move? You’re getting crumbs all over me,” Kuroko said, annoyance colouring his tone ever so slightly.

“Oh, sorry sorry,” Murasakibara said, backing off.

“Thank God, you’re okay Kurokocchi,” Kise teared up, and rushed to hug him, and Akashi, who had foreseen a disaster similar to the one earlier, stepped involuntarily into Kise’s path, causing the blond to halt immediately.

“I think you’ve caused more than enough trouble today, Kise,” Akashi said, and Kise began sobbing, “But I only wanted to welcome Akashicchi!”

Aomine hit him on the back of the head, muttering something about sappy things, but Akashi’s heart undeniably warmed.

“Akashi-kun,” Kuroko said softly behind him, and Akashi almost jumped. He really had to get used to Kuroko’s presence again. “What is it, Kuroko?” he asked, the familiar tenderness that came with addressing his former teammates slipping casually into his tone.

“I’m glad,” he said, smiling wide, and Akashi felt his heart stutter in its beat.

Despite his reaction, Akashi didn’t quite understand why Kuroko would say that. “Are you glad you won, Kuroko?” Akashi asked, all of the previous warmth extinguished, leaving his tone as cold as ice.

“Akashi-kun, sometimes you can be so very oblivious,” Kuroko said, bending his head slightly, that Akashi couldn’t quite catch his facial expression. “I’m glad you’re back,” he said, lifting his head, and twin trails of tears streaked down Kuroko’s cheeks. Despite the odd pain he felt at seeing Kuroko’s tears, Akashi couldn’t help but think that Kuroko had never looked as beautiful as he did at this very moment, his eyes overflowing with emotion.

Akashi couldn’t remember why he had thought it was a good idea to ask the phantom-like teenager to suppress his emotions.

“Kuroko, are you crying?!” Midorima’s voice was incredulous, and the others immediately began fussing over Kuroko.

“Did Akashicchi do something to you Kurokocchi? If so, don’t mind it, Akashicchi probably didn’t mean to hurt you!” Kise said, and Akashi shook his head, smiling slightly.

“No, Kise-kun, I’m just happy. That’s all,” Kuroko said, at the exact moment where Satsuki came running in.

“Dai-chan, where did you go off to? I was searching-” Satsuki stopped short at seeing Kuroko’s tears.

“Tetsu-kun!” Satsuki said rushing off to hug Kuroko and Akashi didn’t know why he was surrounded by people who had no sense of personal space whatsoever.

He didn’t move to stop her, however, seeing as it would only lead to further disaster.

She hugged Kuroko tight, and as his face turned the slightest bit pale, Akashi moved to intervene, but by then Satsuki herself had detached from Kuroko.

It took a while for them all to calm down after that, with Satsuki and Kise bothering Kuroko, and Midorima silently stewing over his broken bracelet, with the occasional dash of Aomine’s idiocy, but they settled down after some time to address the issue at hand.

After much fumbling and blushing from Midorima, it was Kuroko who finally said, “Welcome back, Akashi-kun.”

And as Kise rushed over to him, unable to to hold in his need for physical contact, Akashi could only think,  _today wasn’t so bad after all._

**Omake (bc the story doesn’t have enough AkaKuro, lol)**

They had all left, leaving them both alone, and feeling a little awkward, at least, Akashi was feeling a little awkward, but Kuroko looked at him with usual steady gaze that revealed so much, yet so little.

“Akashi-kun, I-”

“Kuroko, I-”

They stopped at the same moment, Akashi with a little laugh, waving Kuroko to go first.

“Akashi-kun, I like you.”

Akashi’s world spun and then  _stopped._ Akashi wasn’t stupid enough to misunderstand the meaning behind the words, or the emotion shining so clearly in Kuroko’s eyes.

He understood what Kuroko meant but -

“Kuroko, I-”

“Akashi-kun,” Kuroko cut him off with what Akashi was surprised to note was a  _smile_ of all things, “I don’t want your answer. At least not now, when you’re shaken up by the match,” Akashi noted that Kuroko avoided using the word  _defeat, “_ but the match reminded me of why I liked you, and,” Kuroko stopped, his smile fading, “how easily I could lose you.”

“I don’t understand,” Akashi said, feeling quite confused. “How am I easy to lose?”

“Akashi-kun, I’m in love with  _you_.”

“Oh,” Akashi felt like he should probably respond with something more substantial, but emotion choked his throat rendering him speechless, at the possibility that someone loved  _him._

He hadn’t felt his other self’s thoughts since his defeat, but at Kuroko’s words, he felt a faint stirring followed by a derisive laugh.

 _“Figures. Even Tetsuya loves_ you.”

He wanted to retort, say something, but Kuroko beat him to it.

“So I’d like it very much if you gave some thought into this matter, preferably when you’re in a better mood,” Kuroko said, bowing low.

He couldn’t help but admire the way Kuroko was so unfailingly polite, even at times like this.

He heard a soft, sarcastic laugh, inside his head, even as he decided his answer.

_“And of course you love him back.”_

//

**Author's Note:**

> send me a request on tumblr - simplyaverage7.tumblr.com


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